I've been out of loop for a few years, but it's time for me to get back into graphic design. Last time I was in the loop there was basically no way to get faithful reproduction of, for example, Pantone colors on any kind of consumer printer or even the most expensive ones at places like Kinkos -- you had to send out to a real printing place.

What's the situation now? Back in the day I would have a Pantone booklette of color swatches. I would select the colors I would want, read their code number, and then use that code of color in Pantone pallete with Illustrator.

Is the basic method the same now? I see that things like the Huey might reduce the need for actual booklette of swatches possibly, but there's still the printing side of things.

Is there any hardware available to the consumer that will quite reliably and faithfully reproduce a Pantone colors within spec?

There are a number of postscript printers (inkjet, thermal and laser) out there that will do the trick although they tend to be a bit pricy. Ours (an aged HP) runs through a separate software RIP and the most accurate colour comes through a DeviceN colour space through Quark 6.

What comes out of this printer is mainly for client's proofs. We still use the Pantone guides for specifying though although that happens less and less these days as we're doing more 4-colour (process) work and fewer 1 and 2 colour jobs.

I tend to only look at printers in detail when I'm planning to buy one so can't provide you with any specific models, I'm afraid. At the lower end, you could try with the Epson models as a starting point...